AI Era: Agent AI SWAK

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At one AM local time, Navy petty officer Andria Irving stepped out of her dorm room on Dae Yang Naval Air Station, she was short, busty, and a tough looking chick with pale blond hair, and those skintight jeans showed off a fine, fine ass. She held her ID card in her mouth as she locked up her room just as Mojito Dave staggered out of his room down the hall. He held a large Yeti insulated steel tumbler which probably contained the nectar of his nickname. "Where to Wing Nut?" he called as he shlepped down the hall toward her. He was shirtless wearing gym shorts and a pair of flip-flops.

She slid her ID card in her back pocket and held out her fist for a fist bump. "I feel a need for bulgogi and some harbor bottom." Harbor bottom is a nick name for rice served with all forms of sea creatures, tiny squid, octopus, shrimp, and other things best left unidentified. Americans raised on burgers and tacos generally don't eat it, but the adventurous will try it, and many will fall in love with it.

"We're playing some Texas Hold-em down in Zohners room if you wanna join in," he waggled his eyebrows and raised his drink, "it could be fun."

"I know you people and I know how you play. I'm not taking off my clothes and we can save a lot of time if you just hand me your wallet."

"One of these days I'm going to beat you," said Dave as he reached Zohner's room.

"Not before I get tired of spending your money I hope," she gave a rare grin and headed toward the stairs.

"What's up with Wing Nut?" Jesse Hamilton asked Mojito Dave as he walked into the party.

"She don't wanna play," said Dave as he slurped his mojito.

"Her loss," said Harry Zohner as he shuffled the cards.

"She ain't never lost in here," said Tom Condron as he sold Dave a stack of chips. They've never seen someone who could play poker like that. Well, Jesse Hamilton has, and before the game started, he picked up his cell phone and sent out a quick message to a few folks who might be interested in Wing Nut.

The woman known as Wing Nut pulled on her denim jacket as she descended the stairs and stepping outside, she looked for her bicycle in a sea of bicycles. The NavEx only sells one brand of bike, one style, one color. It's too hard and too expensive to get a driver's license in Korea so like most people on base she bought a bike. She was soon the proud owner of a black Huffy 21 speed mountain bike exactly like a thousand others. She added a few decorations that she cut from reflective tape so she can identify it from a thousand other identical bikes and tried to park it in the same area every time she got off of it, but that still doesn't prevent a long search for it when she was in a hurry.

Petty Officer Irving is a communications specialist, she coordinates radio communications between the Navy and the Air Force, but since the two services don't spend too much time actually working together, she's got plenty of time to do other things. She peddled her bike out to the main gate, waved at the gate guard, then peddled her way into A-Town, the small village that's been just off base since, probably since long before the base ever existed.

She pulled her bike up to a small restaurant in A-Town and locked her bike to a drain spout. It was late, it should have been closed, but even in the middle of the week, there's a few drunk sailors or soldiers with a few dollars in their pockets and Korean businessmen and women are out to get those dollars. The dining room was tiny, there were four tiny tables, each had four small chairs and a barbeque grill in the center of the table fed by a rubber gas line. One table near the door held four Americans that were drinking coke and eating rice and bulgogi and could barely keep their eyes open.

Andria took a seat at the table closest to the kitchen and a smiling Korean woman brought her out a tea pot and a cup. "The usual tonight, Miss Irving?"

"You betcha! Can't get enough," the blond sailor grinned.

The waitress returned to the kitchen and soon came back with a plate of thinly cut Korean barbeque beef and a mound of delicious sticky rice, and a bowl of the deep-fried sea creatures that Andria immediately mixed in with her rice and doused with soy sauce. The waitress and the cook came and sat down with Andria, and they chattered back and forth and occasionally broke into English to include Andria in their conversation. They mostly spoke about the recently arrived young sailor who looked like he would probably be going home with a Korean wife within a year. These two women were good at predicting that kind of thing.

As Andria grew close to finishing her meal, she set her cell phone on the table. The young waitress continued to chatter about the new sailor and how much she'd like to be the one that was going home with him. The waitress brought out her cell phone and showed Andria a picture of herself with the sailor in question, then she set her cellphone next to Andria's cellphone and quietly the two phones began to transfer information. Three minutes later Andria looked up at the cook in shock, and the cook nodded, affirming what Andria had just assimilated. "Well, I gotta go, keep an eye on my bike for me, will ya?" Andria stood and dropped a wad of bills on the table.

"We will!" the waitress said cheerfully as she counted up the money that Andria dropped on the table.

Then Andria stepped into the kitchen leaving her cell phone on the table with her Korean friends. The drunk sailors at the front table suddenly sobered up when Andria stepped into the kitchen. One dashed to the kitchen door which was covered by a half curtain and peeking in saw that there was no one in the kitchen. He made a gesture to his buddies who dashed out the front door and looked around in the dark.

There was a small garage behind the restaurant and an Asian woman was loading a small suitcase into the back of a black Hyundai sedan. "Hey lady, did you see a blond American come out the back?"

"Only blond is you!" cried the Asian woman in a deep Korean accent as she got in the Hyundai.

"Damnit!" spat the American and the four of them searched desperately for Andria as the Asian woman with the fine, fine ass drove away.

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The video explaining Twin Dragons Security Systems was now explaining how a western dragon is the opposite of the peaceful eastern dragon, how the western dragon will fight to preserve and protect what is put in his care... Zhang Wei noticed that the Senator and his team were glued to the screen. It was a great presentation, it fascinated her the first time she saw it, the CGI alone cost Ming a fortune, that big slinky, sexy CGI Chinese dragon wrapping itself around an actual cargo airplane... it almost made Zhang want to be an airplane. Then came Chris Evans walking between stacks of servers explaining data security, Alicia told her that he was such a nice guy to everybody the day they filmed that scene.

Just then a hand the size of a hubcap clasped her tiny shoulder and she nearly jumped out of her skin. She looked up and there was Jim MacDonald grinning down at her. For a big guy he could move so silently! He jerked his thumb to the door, and she nodded and slipped quietly out of the briefing room. There in the hall was her roll-away suitcase. She grabbed the handle and stepped down the hallway as quickly as possible. Soon she was out in the hanger, blinking in the glare of the mountain sunshine streaming through the open hangar doors and she saw that the ground crew had moved the Senator's helicopter inside the hanger. A loud rhythmic thumping could be heard approaching through the hangar door and as she drew closer, the double doors opened into the hanger from a side tunnel and a large six passenger golf cart entered the hangar and pulled up next to her as the big red and white Long Air Services Boeing Rotorcraft Model 234ER twin rotor helicopter, the civilian version of the famous Army Chinook, swooped toward the Helipad like an avenging dragon (western dragon) then at the last moment the nose pulled up and the massive helicopter leveled and settled to the pad gently.

Zhang looked to her left and there she was, Long Yu Ming, the Big Boss. The woman who rebuilt Long Air Services from a border jumping drug pipeline to a global powerhouse. And suddenly the enormity of the task at hand started to overwhelm Zhang, it was now her job to protect Ming Long. Ming's security team was too well known, and she had to go somewhere so they tapped Zhang to be her protection on this trip while her normal security team remained in Ganley Mountain as a decoy... SHIT!

Zhang tried not to shake as Ming got out of the golf cart and stood next to her. She kept hearing that Ming was tiny, but Ming stands three inches taller than her! She looked like Ming's kid sister! She felt like crying. Now a fellow that made Zhang think of Clark Kent got off the golf cart and stepped up to Ming, he could only be Cliff Staunton, the guy who made Ming's visions become reality. He was a nice, nerdy guy, but then Ming was a nice nerdy girl, they're cute together.

As the helicopter's ground team got the massive machine stopped and were setting the wheel chocks and ground straps, Cliff and Ming adjusted each other's clothing and quietly reassured each other that they would do fine then that kiss! Zhang has worked for several CEOs and she's never seen any of them ever kiss anyone like that. So sweet! So loving! They weren't a powerful CEO and uber genius programmer, they were real people!

Then a mountain of a man, Dunkan O'Reilly, a member of Ming's security team, stepped up to Zhang, handed her a folder and said something, she got the impression that the folder was for Ming, but the auxiliary power generator on the helicopter was screaming so loud she could barely hear Dunkan. He must have realized that she was having problems hearing, so he leaned way over and said into her ear, "Go get 'em tiger! You're going to do great!"

"Yes sir," Zhang said, trying not to giggle like a schoolgirl. And now it's time, the side door on that huge helicopter lowered becoming a boarding ladder, the LAS crew grabbed several cases including Zhang's luggage and stowed them in the back of the helicopter while the flight attendant beckoned to Ming and Zhang from the forward door. Zhang walked side by side with Ming and Cliff out to the big machine with the lazily turning rotors while Dunkan trailed behind them alert, looking for threats in all directions. When they got to the helicopter steps they paused while Cliff and Ming kissed once more, those sweet kisses that somehow reminded Zhang of her prom, then they were on the helicopter. The helicopter was Lavish! It reminded Zhang of those executive jets you see in the movies, with captains' chairs and couches and coffee tables and wood paneling... it's amazing! It was hard for Zhang to remember to be looking for threats and not a drink.

Ming wasn't impressed, she was looking out a window gazing at Cliff, and the sad look he gave her was the kind of look a man gives a woman he loves that he's afraid he'll never see again. They maintained eye contact as the blades spun up to speed and the huge helicopter leapt into the air

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On the screen, the red Chinese dragon sensuously wrapped itself around the massive air freighter one last time while behind it a huge gold western dragon rose and spread its wings to cover and protect the Chinese dragon. Then the western dragon snarled as if to prepare to breathe fire on an intruder and the scene froze and became a logo.

"Twin Dragon Security Systems," said Morgan Freeman, "Here for you today, tomorrow, and always."

"Does anybody have any questions?" asked Mac as the lights came on.

"That was very impressive," said the Senator. "What happened to Miss Wei?"

"Miss Long was called away so you're stuck with me now," grinned Mac, "I'm Jim MacDonald, everyone calls me Mac."

"What is next on the agenda Mr. MacDonald?"

"Call me Mac, please Senator. If we return to the hangar, we will take a look at the rest of the facilities."

Mac led the senator's party out to the hangar; his helicopter was moved back to its original position and the six-person golf cart was waiting for them. No one heard the massive Boeing Rotorcraft landing and takeoff because of the massive weight of the mountain. Its mass shielded the party from the vibrations caused by the heavy bird landing and taking off and became the perfect sound proofing. The senatorial party loaded up on the big cart and headed toward the double doors that swung open for them.

Up in Ming's office, Cliff used a laptop to watch the inspection party clamber on board the big golf cart and head into the long tunnel that stretched the length of the mountain. Their first stop was the Data Storage area, row upon row of identical servers backing up tens of thousands of customers' machines remotely. Then further on down the tunnel was media storage, many customers still believe in removable storage, Twin Dragon Security Systems provide not only secure, safe, dry storage, but storage safe from dangers like cosmic rays, sunspot activity, solar flares, and electro-magnetic pulses. Huge vaults held removable drives and back-up tapes as robot arms placed devices in their programmed positions or removed them from storage to return them to the customer for use.

Mac could talk for hours on secure data storage, he received his doctorate for a paper on data security and he loved this facility, unfortunately he couldn't take anyone in this tour group into the data storage center, they didn't have the security clearance to enter the storage center, and they probably wouldn't appreciate it nearly as much as he would. Cliff and Mac both received a text message, Cliff saw it on his laptop, Mac looked down at the tablet he uses for notes on these tours and saw "Drop on schedule" Mac chuckled; the little lady is probably having a hell of a ride.

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The massive Boeing twin-rotor helicopter dropped down the eastern face of the Rocky Mountains like a bobsled rocketing down its run. This flight was called the "Front Range Drop" because it dropped from 10,000 feet to 4800 feet in just a matter of minutes, skimming the mountains flying progressively lower and lower until they shot out over the prairie and out to Denver International Airport. No helicopter could keep up with the Model 234, which is why Alicia insisted that Ming repurpose the Bell 407GXP and ride in something big and fast with a lot of armor.

Seeing peaks and trees flash past the windows unsettled Ming to no end. To her, flying is done at 30,000 feet where the ground is a patchwork quilt far below. Barely able to contain her scream, Ming took a deep breath and sent the command

'AI: Send message to nanotech cluster RN372-48-AI94θ1012, message as follows: OH MY GOD I'M SCARED! Message ends'

>> Message sent

In her head Ming kept repeating the mantra "please answer, please answer, please answer" Her cell phone chirped from the floor far forward in the cabin, she had dropped it when they took off and it's been sliding back and forth on the plush carpet since they started this crazy ride. Her AI finally said:

>> Incoming message from Agent Ingersoll, Message as follows: Answer your phone. Message ends.

"I can't get it!" whined Ming.

"What can't you get?" asked Zhang.

"My phone, I need my phone."

"It's over there, if you let go of my arm, I'll go get it." Ming had a death grip on the arm of the helicopters couch with her left hand, and Zhang's left arm with her right hand, and those nanobots were not letting go. Until those nanobots let go, Zhang was going nowhere.

"NO!" Ming screamed.

Zhang's phone began to ring, and she dug it out of her purse and saw that it was Agent Ingersoll. She answered it one handed, "Agent Wei," she said professionally.

"Zhang, put Ming on, please?"

"Ok, hang on." Zhang tried to hand her phone to Ming, but Ming was too terrified to take it. She then tried to twist her arm around that would allow her to hold her phone to Ming's ear, but Ming was bouncing around too much for that. Zhang finally settled on turning on speaker mode. "Ok, she can hear you now."

"Ming? Honey? Baby, you have to loosen up, these folks are trying to get us together."

"This is too scary," howled Ming.

Suddenly both AIs shrieked to life, Alicia and Ming received the message at the same time:

>> Security Alert - Security for LAS Flight 001 has been compromised

> Security Alert - Security for LAS Flight 001 has been compromised

Zhang didn't have the ability to receive that message, but she knew something was up when she heard Alicia on her phone shout the Korean word, "Ttong!"

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On the Korean peninsula a commuter boat paddled across the Geum River crossing from the Jochon-dong area of Daesan to Janghang-eup. In the boat an Asian face lost in a boatload of Asian faces watched with bored amusement at a salesman who walked through the crowd of commuters trying to sell the latest trinkets and gizmos. This was the price of riding inside the cabin out of the spray of the crossing, if you want to stay dry you had to listen to the salesman. His job was to make the sale before these folks got off the boat and trooped over to the train station where they would catch a train to Seoul. The switchblade hair comb was a big hit, he's sold twenty of them in the past five crossings of this river, and the companion piece was doing well also. The salesman was sure that the pretty lady near the bow would be interested in a genuine copper plated windproof cigarette lighter/brass knuckle.

The pretty lady watched the salesman with a look of amusement as he waved the lighter around to show that the wind would not blow out this miracle of modern Korean technology, but she pulled her phone out and made a call and waited impatiently for an answer. She made another call and again she didn't get an answer. She made a third call and got through but had to wait impatiently. The salesman continued his prattle, and he moved closer to the lady to find out what she was up to. To the salesman's shock, when the person she wanted to speak to came on the line, she started speaking English.

Suddenly the pretty lady went pale, her face was covered in cold sweat, and she suddenly looked terrified. She leapt up and shouted "Ttong!" (Shit!) into the phone then whirled around to face the oncoming shore and started speaking rapidly. All the salesman knew for sure was that she was talking to someone named Ming, and that thanks to her tight jeans he could see that she had a fine, fine ass.

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The helicopter was now edging the trees following I70 down the mountain. "Where are you guys now?" demanded Alicia.

"Genesse Park," shouted Zhang as she tried to pry Ming's hand off her arm. "We just flew under the Sleeper house!" The Sleeper house is an architectural marvel on Genesse Mountain that Woody Allen used in his movie 'Sleeper.' Its name is Sculptured House, everyone thinks it looks like a taco on a pillar and calls it the Sleeper House because it was featured in the movie.

"Ming!" cried Alicia into her phone as the boat docked on the north side of the river. "You have to let go, let Zhang do her job." She thought for a moment as she headed up to the gangway, then said, "Ming, they're trying to keep us apart."